Supporters and relatives of the late Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny marked what would have been his 49th birthday with a memorial service at his gravesite in Moscow on Wednesday.
Around 20 people gathered to lay flowers and read prayers at Moscow’s Borisovskoye Cemetery, according to the Sotavision news outlet.
The visitors included Navalny’s mother Lyudmila Navalnaya and his widow Yulia’s mother Alla Abrosimova, as well as exiled Navalny ally Ilya Yashin’s parents.
The memorial service was held by Priest Dmitry Safronov, who was demoted and suspended by the Russian Orthodox Church for three years after performing a memorial service at Navalny’s gravesite 40 days after his death.
Navalny died on Feb. 16, 2024, at the Arctic penal colony where he was serving a 19-year sentence on “extremism” charges largely seen as political retribution for his vociferous opposition to the Kremlin.
Navalny’s family and allies have blamed his death on the Kremlin and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Sotavision said four National Guard officers inspected visitors’ belongings and flowers, while 10 members of the police Center for Combating Extremism filmed the memorial service on their phones.
Russian authorities designated Navalny’s activist network, including the disbanded Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), as “extremist” in 2021, placing employees, volunteers and supporters at risk of criminal prosecution. Many of its members had fled Russia to evade criminal prosecution.
Some of Navalny’s closest allies who live in exile posted their birthday wishes on social media that were shared by the Team Navalny Telegram channel.
“Thank you for remembering,” Abrosimova, Navalny’s mother-in-law, told reporters after the memorial service in Moscow.
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